Baba and Nyonya Performance

Our first night in Malacca was spent in the function room of our hotel (located on the basement floor) watching a man crossdressed as a Nyonya give us a hilarious but enlightening introduction of the traditions of a typical Peranakan wedding. This would later complement our visit to the Baba and Nyonya House Museum and give us a better idea of the customs of Peranakans.

He talked about typical gifts exchanged during a wedding and even produced samples of such gifts, such as this "portable toilet". A schoolmate was invited onto the stage to "break open" the "toilet", which contained a red packet. 

5 ladies dressed up in the tradional costume - the sarong kebaya - danced traditional dances such as the jonget to songs like Dayung Sampan, an Indonesian folk song.

We even had the chance to learn how to dance the joget. Our classmate, an actual Nyonya, was invited onstage. Though she was hesitant at first, she decided to just try it out for the experience and ended up enjoying it thoroughly.

We concluded the performance and night with a "sing-along session" of Singapore's official Children's Day song, Semoga Bahagia. It is a Malay song composed by Zubir Said, who also composed Singapore's national anthem, Majulah SingpSingapura

This was an extremely fun and enriching night where we learnt about Peranakans' customs and traditions. After this, we looked forward to the Baba and Nyonya House Museum tour, which we also ended up enjoying very much.